Google+ Shut Down Invites Function

Google pending current users sending out Google+ invitation yesterday, saying it had generated "insane demand".

Vic Gundotra, the chap leading Google's social network charge, posted on Google+ that the firm had stop the invite function due to high request. CNet News reports that Google+ will soon make available access to developers.

Google has thrown its hat into the social networking ring with Google+. Or rather, it’s throwing the latest of several hats into the ring, the previous hats having been stomped into wads of filthy felt scraps.
The most usual response to Google+ that I’ve heard is, “Good, I hate Facebook.” This is from people already using Facebook.. We’re on Facebook because everyone else is on Facebook. In this way, Facebook imitates life.

 We become a member of Facebook because our friends do, and they bug us, and eventually it’s just easier to sign up than not sign up. In short, we all want to be popular, well-loved, well-connected hermits.
Google+ might strike the big time by surfing the wave of Facebook resentment at the same time as eluding dead rats and discarded styrofoam cups

Google Doodle - Honoring Special Events

The first Google Doodle was in honor of the Burning Man Festival of 1998. The doodle was designed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin to notify users of their absence in case the servers crashed.

Subsequent Google Doodles were designed by an outside contractor, until Larry and Sergey asked then-intern Dennis Hwang to design a logo for Bastille Day in 2000. Hwang has been designing the Google Doodle ever since. Clicking on a Google Doodle links to a string of Google search results about the topic, which can drive a lot of traffic to unsuspecting sites.

Google doodle have been produced for the birthdays of several noted artists and scientists, including Andy Warhol, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Rabindranath Tagore, Louis Braille, Percival Lowell, Edvard Munch, Nikola Tesla, Béla Bartók, René Magritte, John Lennon, Michael Jackson, Akira Kurosawa, H. G. Wells, Samuel Morse, Hans Christian Ørsted, Mohandas Gandhi, Dennis Gabor, Constantin Brancusi, Antonio Vivaldi and Jules Verne among others.

Additionally, the featuring of Lowell's logo design coincided with the launch of another Google product, Google Maps. Google doodle are also used to depict major events at Google, such as the company's own anniversary. British novelist Roald Dahl has been featured, with the google doodle logo containing characters and items from some of his books, such as Matilda.

The celebration of historical events is another common topic of Google Doodle including a Lego brick design in celebration of the interlocking Lego block's 50th anniversary. The anniversary of H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds has also been celebrated.

On February 14, 2007, Valentine's Day, the Google doodle featured a chocolate-dipped strawberry that combined the second "g" and the "l" as its green stem. This design gave the appearance that the "l" was missing, thereby displaying "Googe".

In response to several speculations the Official Google Blog, responded: "When you look at the logos, you may worry that we forgot our name overnight, skipped a letter, or have decided that 'Googe' has a better ring to it. None of the above. I just know that those with true romance and poetry in their soul will see the subtlety immediately. And if you're feeling grouchy today, may I suggest eating a strawberry." For the celebration of Earth Hour, the white background was transformed black to symbolize "the turning off of lights".

Google was criticized in 2007 for not featuring versions of the Google logo for American patriotic holidays such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day. That year, Google featured a logo commemorating Veterans Day.

Google unveiled a steady stream of Doodle in 2009, including one with Mahatma Gandhi's face on October 2, 2009, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, which is observed by the UN as the International Day for Non-Violence.

On Friday, May 21, 2010, Google created a google doodle to celebrate the 30th birthday of Pac-Man. It is their first (possibly the world's first) playable logo. The logo contains an accurate re-creation of the Pac-Man game that can be played in a browser (it contains 255 levels). On Sunday, July 11, 2010, the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final was commemorated by a Google doodle showing the stadium where the match was played that night.

On Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2011, Google doodle ran one of its most interactive Doodles in honor of Sci-Fi writer Jules Verne's 183rd birthday. "Pulling" on a lever enabled viewers to get a Nautilus submarine's view undersea of everything from divers to treasure to sea creatures, including a coral formation in the shape of the logo.

On Friday, April 15, 2011, Google doodle sported the first video doodles, commemorating Charlie Chaplin's 122nd birthday. This Google doodle was a black and white YouTube video that, when clicked upon, started playing before redirecting to the usual Google search featuring the doodle's special occasion. All parts in this short film were played by the Google doodle team, and special behind-the-scenes footage was to be found on the Google blog.

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Apple Keynote

Easy from the start
It presents beautifully.
Even if you’ve never used Keynote before, you’ll find creating a presentation surprisingly simple. It all starts with an enhanced Theme Chooser that lets you preview an impressive collection of 44 Apple-designed themes. Drag across a theme to skim through its slide designs. Once you’ve chosen the perfect canvas for your presentation, simply substitute your own words and images for the placeholder text and graphics. Thanks to the Slide Navigator, the progress of your presentation and its organization are always in view.

Easy-to-use tools let you add elements such as tables, charts, media, and shapes to your slides. Add a table with a click. Just as easily add a 3D chart that you can animate. With the Media Browser, you can drag and drop photos from your iPhoto or Aperture libraries, movies from your Movies folder, and music from your iTunes library.

Powerful graphics tools
Looking good comes easy.

Make each slide in your presentation look its absolute best using the powerful graphics tools built into Keynote. Quickly and cleanly remove the background of an image using the Instant Alpha tool. Or mask it within a predrawn shape, such as a circle or a star. With alignment and spacing guides, you can easily find the center of the slide and see if objects are spaced evenly. So anything you add to your slides — graphics, images, text boxes, or shapes — is placed precisely where you want it. If you’re adding a flowchart or a diagram to your slide, then you’ll appreciate the connection lines feature. Connection lines between two objects remain anchored, no matter what changes you make. Move the objects around, and the lines move with them.

Animations and effects
Standing ovation highly likely.
With your choice of more than 25 transitions, including 3D transitions, you’re sure to keep their eyes riveted to the screen as you move from one slide to the next. Apply the Magic Move transition and a repeated object, such as your company’s logo, automatically changes location, scale, opacity, and rotation across consecutive slides.

Text and object animations are a compelling way to punctuate your message. Morph text on one slide into text on the next slide. Build your slide one bullet point, table row, or chart series at a time. Or have it all appear at once, entering stage left or spinning onto the screen. You can fine-tune your animations by setting the duration, choosing which element is affected first, and defining the animation path along a straight line or a curve.

3D charts and chart animations

Make your charts as impressive as the rest of your presentation. 3D textures and animations add depth and movement and a touch of fun. Insert a pie chart with a beveled edge or animate a bar chart using Crane or Radial effects.

Flexible ways to present
Your show. Your way.

Keep the pace of your presentation flowing smoothly with the Presenter Display feature. While your presentation appears on the main display for your audience, you can see the current and next slides, your slide notes, a clock, and a timer on a second display. Can’t be there to present in person? The show can still go on. Using the built-in narration tool, Keynote captures your audio voiceover and timing as you step through builds or move from one slide to the next.

Add Keynote Remote1 to your iPhone or iPod touch and feel free to roam around the room while you present. Using Wi-Fi, Keynote Remote turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a wireless controller. In landscape view, see the current and next slides. In portrait, see the current slide with your slide notes. Tap to play and swipe to advance, wherever you are in the room.

Compatibility and sharing
Approved for all audiences.

Keynote gives you a variety of ways to bring your show to the people. You can use it to import presentations created in Microsoft PowerPoint and to create presentations that can easily be saved as PowerPoint files. You can also export your presentation as a QuickTime movie or a PDF, HTML, or image file, or even directly to YouTube. Keynote does the format conversion for you.
Share your work on the web.

When you need to share your presentation but aren’t sure whether your colleagues use a Mac or a PC, iWork or Microsoft Office, publish it to iWork.com public beta.2 Reviewers will receive an email with a unique URL where they can view your slides, post comments, and download a version ideal for them in Keynote, PowerPoint, or PDF format. Want to share your presentation publicly? Generate a link for social networking sites like Facebook. Or embed your slideshow in a personal web page or blog. Viewers using the latest version of Safari on a Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch can now play your slideshow complete with stunning animations and effects.

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iOS 5 at WWDC 2011

Over at its Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco, Apple has been showing off the abilities of the next major revision to its mobile operating system, iOS 5. Available for all generations of iPhone from 3GS onwards and both iPads so far, iOS 5 will be available for download sometime in the Autumn.

There’s nothing spectacularly new in the update, but it is a more comprehensive makeover than Google’s recent Android 3.1 release, even if it does ape many of Android’s best features.

So what’s new?
No more iTunes
he most important feature for us is that iOS devices are now independent. There’s no need to sync them with iTunes to get them working or download updates. That’s long overdue – not only is iTunes on the PC a terrible, terrible piece of software, it should help to head off some of the ‘walled garden’ criticism that has been pushing potential Apple buyers towards Android. Software updates will be beamed magically over the air. Lovely.

 AirPlay
This also extends to syncing an iTunes library via WiFi, and ‘AirPlay’, which pushes whatever is playing on your iPad – music, video or otherwise – direct to a TV screen without wires.

Better notifications
Obviously the screenshot we saw earlier was a fake, but a new Android-like notification system than involves pulling a list down from the top of the screen (on a phone) has been included. Incoming messages will pop up over things like running games, tapping them moves you straight into the conversation. Apparently push notifications as well as SMS texts and iChats will be able to use this notification feature, and there’s an SDK available for developers today to learn how to use it.

New iOS messaging system
The bad news is that much like FaceTime, Apple is introducing a new messaging service which syncs up with all your contacts and works really well, but can only be used to chat to other iOS users. Because yes, the internet needs another proprietary IM service as much as it needed another proprietary video conferencing one. The ability to start a conversation on an iPhone and carry it on on your iPad isn’t that big a deal either – Skype and Google Chat have been doing that for ages.

Betternewstand
Downloading magazines onto the iPad has long been touted as the saviour of ‘print’ journalism. Now there’s an app, Newstand, for it. It’s like Zinio or Mylibrary for Android, except that latest issues of your favourite mags will now download in the background so they’re ready and waiting next time you want to browse. Rumours are that Newstand hasn’t been been doing too well, but whether this is the kick it needs to convince people magazines and not websites are what you want on your iPad remains to be seen.

Camera gets a lot of loving
The headline here is that the iPhone 4 is the most popular camera on Flickr by number of users – although interestingly it’s a long way behind the leaders by number of shots uploaded, which says a lot about the way it’s used. There’s a lot of work gone into improving the camera, like using the volume key as a shutter button and being able to access it without unlocking the device. All looks good, but for the tablet the important thing is going to be new photo editing tools and better integration of the email app and the gallery for sending pictures to friends.

Revamped GameCentre
This one’s looking promising. Right now, the common reaction to Apple’s GameCentre is ‘what’s that for?’, since it seems to duplicate the App Store in a slightly worse way. iOS 5 adds in some interesting multiplayer and social features which mean you can compare scores with friends and play turn based strategies via the messaging system.

Better Safari & system wide typing
We’ve saved a good one to finish on, so you don’t feel too overwhelmed. Safari gets a couple of nice new features, such as the ability to Tweet content from within a webpage, proper tabbed browsing and a ‘read later’ feature for saving stories for offline perusal. There’s also a system wide dictionary to help out with those obfuscatory bon mots that writers recurrently recourse to, and a split screen keyboard for tapping away with your thumbs while browsing in portrait mode.

It’s all welcome changes (apart from the messaging system) although nothing we think that deserved a major new version. EAT assumes that the reason this will be iOS 5 is that there’s something else with that number appearing come September too.

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Download iOS 5

Today at Apple’s annual developer conference dubbed WWDC, many long-awaited innovations have been revealed such as iCloud, iOS 5 and Mac OS X Lion. One of the most promising announcement was the officially confirmation of wireless syncing and over 200 new features in iOS 5.

 In iOS 5, the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch would automatically find iTunes on a Wi-Fi network and would automatically sync and backup apps, contacts and media.

iOS 5 is now available to download (iPhone, iPad and iPod) but just like with any other beta release, this version is meant for developers only, therefore, only members enrolled in the iPhone Developer Standard or Enterprise Program can access these bits by signing into Apple Developer Connection.

Download iOS 5 for iPhone, iPod and iPad by signing into Apple Developer Connection.

Defects Laptop Batteries, HP Pull Back 78 Thousand Units

HP Laptop Batteries: Overheating and Melt Can Cause Fire

Computer manufacturer, Hewlett-Packard (HP) on Thursday (2 / 5) plans to recall 78,740 units of laptop batteries used in HP and Compaq series in China. Because the battery may cause fire.

According to the statement of Product Quality Supervision Agency of China (AQSIQ), batteries manufactured by LG Electronics between July 2007 and May 2008, has a defect that can cause the battery overheating and melt so it can cause fire.

The company also will replace the batteries free of charge. Previously, HP also pulled back about 15,000 battery units in May 2009 and about 19,573 batteries in May 2010 with the same reason

Twitter "Followers" Live Button

Twitter Launched Live Button "Followers" for More Than 50 Sites

Social networking site, Twitter, launched live button "followers" on Wednesday (1 / 6). Users can follow along and get access at any sites directly, without having to seek the source first. That button is the latest technology of Twitter in a series of developments that enable users to interact with Twitter users around the web.

With that button, users can simply follow the well-known sites like the Telegraph, Dailymail or CNN, as well as gain access to the news on the home page. Twitter hope, this button will allow users to find accounts that attract their attention.

image:marketingpilgrim.com

"More than 50 sites have participated in the Button 'Follow' today. So easy for you to find your favorite reporter Twitter account, such as athletes, pop stars, and bloggers," says Brian Ellin, a Twitter representative

China Hackers "Attack" Gmail

Google: Gmail Security Breach by China Hackers

Google had problem with China. Some time ago, Google has shut off access in China due to hackers, the same problem happened again. Hundreds of Google email, Gmail, allegedly hijacked by hackers from China.

Google said, the hackers try to stole passwords and get into Gmail user accounts belong to government officials, journalists, United States senator, and Chinese politicians.

"We have been informed and secure user accounts. In addition, we also have notified the relevant government this hacking problem," Google said in a statement as reported by metro.co.uk, Thursday (2 / 6).

Some time ago, the site Wikileaks has revealed that e-mail hijacking in 2010 deliberately carried out the Chinese government. However, China denied that the issue referred to as a common problem in the world of technology

windows 8 Launched Next Year

Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, for the first time calling the next version of Windows with Windows 8 and the next generation of the Windows system that will come out next year.

However, apparently what was said by Ballmer in fact contrary to a statement from a Microsoft spokesperson said, "It appears there was a misstatement" on ZDNet. "We are eagerly waiting the next generation of Windows 7 That will from some of the hardware available in the coming fiscal year. To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows."

In other words, Microsoft is not ready to announce the name of the successor to Windows 7. Very likely what did Ballmer say was right and to prove it we have to wait a little while.

image from bestabletpc.com

First leaked build of Windows 8, Windows 8 build 7850, circulated on the internet last month and quickly followed by Windows 8 Build 7955 a few weeks later and Windows Server 7959 8 builds on earlier this month. If you see a link that says download a newer version of build 7959, be careful, because most likely contain malware.

Microsoft announced earlier this year that Intel, AMD and ARM would support Windows 8

History of Mbone

Mbone (short for "multicast backbone") was an experimental backbone for IP multicast traffic across the Internet developed in the early 1990s. It required specialized hardware and software. Since most Internet routers have IP multicast disabled due to concerns of bandwidth tracking and billing, the Mbone evolved to connect multicast-capable networks over the existing Internet infrastructure. The commercialization of multicast routers is difficult because there are no efficient access control capabilities to the multicast trees (multicast routers and their protocols), and because Internet service providers have difficulty computing charges for multicast traffic.

A November 1994 Rolling Stones concert at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas with 50,000 fans was the "first major cyberspace multicast concert." Mick Jagger opened the concert by saying, "I wanna say a special welcome to everyone that's, uh, climbed into the Internet tonight and, uh, has got into the M-bone. And I hope it doesn't all collapse."

By 1995 there were M-bone links in Russia, as well as at the McMurdo Sound research station in Antarctica.

Mbone is currently of practical use for shared communication such as videoconferences or shared collaborative workspaces. It is not generally connected to Internet service providers, but often to universities and research institutions. Some other projects and network testbeds, such as Internet2's Abilene Network, have made Mbone obsolete.

A recent application with support over Mbone was Virtual Room Videoconferencing System (VRVS)

Read more here

The Future of Google Chrome OS

Google entered the web browser war in late-2008, against Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple’s Safari and Opera by releasing Google Chrome. Many people wondered why the world needed yet-another-browser, but little did they realize the importance of such a development. Google postulated that in the next few years, the majority of citizens in first-world countries will completely rely on the Internet for day-to-day operations. Google is a web firm, with their income entirely based on the web through their online search engine, online advertising, e-mail (Gmail), office suite (Google Docs) and so on, so why wouldn’t a company that relies entirely on the Internet, create a program to view and explore the Internet, the way they want?

Google is now going one step further and releasing their own operating system based on Google Chrome, called Google Chrome OS. As you may have noticed, operating systems have slowly been merging with the Web for some time. Although researched since the mid-90s and before, Google is the first major corporation to put their money on the further integration of the two and to start selling devices based on their software.

Will Google Chrome OS do everything I need?

You are probably already using a device that is heavily reliant on the Internet, such as your smartphone, tablet or workstation at work. However, your workstation at work probably has a lot of other important applications other than your web browser, such as Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Quicken and so on. So what good is an operating system that is only a web browser?

Well, did you know that most of those applications now run on the web? Adobe Photoshop has been replicated to a great deal of accuracy through a website called Pixlr, there are online applications that mirror Microsoft Office like Google Docs (with many others following suit), and Quicken has been emulated by your bank (CIBC, Scotiabank, BMO, etc.) and third-party websites such as Mint.com.

So, not only will you be able to use all the same applications you’ve been using since the 1990s, the data you work with will be saved by these third-party websites, so if your laptop gets lost or stolen, none of your data will be lost and will in fact be safe from unwarranted parties so long as they don’t know your password. Even further, Google has a sync program that will allow all your bookmarks, extensions, themes and data to be synced across all your computers, so long as you’re using Google Chrome. So you can have Google Chrome on your home and work PC (running Windows, Mac or Linux), on your phone or on your tablet and your experience on one computer will be the same as any other computer or device you use.

No lost data and seamless integration across your devices. Sounds pretty good to me.

The future

With technologies such as HTML5 bringing patent-free video to our fingertips (which means streaming Netflix for Canadians) and the integration of OpenGL-3D for 3D data display (think engineering, computer animation and 3D video games), there’s no telling where the Web will go. One thing is for certain and that is our reliance on the Web will not be lessened by this evolution, but rather tightened, hopefully making a less painless computing experience for everyone.

 Original content by : whatevermedia.ca

Recognize these 50 Computer interfaces from the movies

Access Main Computer File is a great site I came across while surfing the interwebs. They showcase images of computer GUI (Graphic User Interfaces) from Hollywood Movies.

With some of them, it's obvious what films they came from—Brazil, Starship Troopers, Blade Runner, The Fifth Element—while others have sources far more elusive. But taking them all in, you can get a sense of what production designers thought tomorrow's computers would look like, as well as the limitations they had in creating them.

So how many of these interfaces do you recognize?

Nothing But Trouble, 1991


A Scanner Darkly, 2006


Strangeland, 1998


Sydney White, 2007


Avalon, 2001


Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, 2001


Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, 1986


Blues Brothers, 1980


Clueless, 1995


TRON: Legacy, 2010


TRON, 1982


Grosse Pointe Blank, 1997


Cube Zero, 2004


Timecop, 1994


Old Dogs, 2009


Sleepless in Seattle, 1993


G.I. Jane, 1997


Disclosure, 1994


Batman Forever, 1995


Machete, 2010


The Art of War, 2000


Freejack, 1992


Bicentennial Man, 1999


Going the Distance, 2010


The A-Team, 2010


Undercover Brother, 2002


The Bounty Hunter, 2010


The Bourne Identity, 2002


Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, 2010


Source Code, 2011


Stranded, 2001


Oceans 11, 2001


Alien, 1979


Wild Hogs, 2007


Code 46, 2003


THX 1138, 1971


Sunshine, 2007


Dune, 1984


Moon, 2009


Short Circuit, 1986


Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, 2002


Julie & Julia, 2009


Dark Star, 1974


Single White Female, 1992


Batman Returns, 1992


Fortress, 1993


I, Robot, 2004


2 Fast 2 Furious, 2003


Judge Dredd, 1995


Hardwired, 2009